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Biography

Paula Morris, a novelist and short story writer of English and Maori descent, was born in New Zealand. For almost a decade she worked in the record business in London and New York. A graduate of creative writing programs at Victoria University in Wellington and the University of Iowa, Paula has taught creative writing in the UK, New Zealand, Europe, China and the US. She currently teaches at the University of Auckland.

Paula's first novel, Queen of Beauty, won best first work of fiction at the 2003 Montana New Zealand Book Awards. Hibiscus Coast, a literary thriller set in Auckland and Shanghai, was published in 2005. Her third novel, Trendy But Casual, a comedy set in New York, was published by Penguin New Zealand in 2005.

Her most recent novel for Penguin is Rangatira (2011), based on the true story of a trip by Maori rangatira to England in 1863. In 2012 Rangatira won the fiction category at the New Zealand Post Book Awards and the Nga Kupu Ora Maori Book Awards, and was published in German by Walde+Graf.

Paula's first short story collection, Forbidden Cities (2008) was a regional finalist in the 2009 Commonwealth Writers' Prize. She is also the editor of The Penguin Book of Contemporary New Zealand Short Stories (2009).

Paula has published four YA mysteries with Scholastic US: Ruined (2009) and its sequel Unbroken (2013), Dark Souls (2011) and The Eternal City (2015). Her first children's book, Hene and the Burning Harbour, was published by Puffin NZ in 2013.

Paula is the director of the Scudder Road Circus and Literary Journal. Currently, Scudder Road is neither selling tickets nor accepting submissions.

For more information on Paula's books, news of upcoming events, and details for her publishers and agent, please visit www.paula-morris.com